The We the People will not be Chipped - No Verichip Inside Movement, is based on the irrefutable fact, that mankind has inalienable human rights that are absolute and can not be debased, nor perverted. Human life can not be degraded to a 16 digit RFID chip number embedded under you skin under any circumstance. By uniting on this common ground, we can send a strong message to the IBM funded Verichip that
We The People Will Not Be Chipped!
Link to our website with one of these banners and help the cause:
When Verichip microchipped the Alzheimer patients I remained silent; I was not an Alzheimer patient. When Verichip microchipped the Diabetic and AIDS patients I remained silent; I was not an AIDS patient nor a Diabetic. When Verichip microchipped the Military I did not speak out;
I was not in the Military. When Verichip came for the activists I remained silent; I was not an Activist. When they came to microchip me , there was no one left to speak out.
Do you want to talk to us about this rapidly approaching agenda? Radio Interviews ? We can discuss human inventorying, biometrics, GIG, RFID, fMRI, Military Industrial Complex , Internet Censorship , Electronic Health Records , Internet Of Things, Augmented Reality , AmI, M2M , H+ , Hive Mind , Transhumanism with your listeners ? TV? We are happy to discuss the human inventorying issue with your listeners and viewers. Email us now here: radio@wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com
Follow us with social networking to keep up to date!
WANT TO HELP? Email your local government representative and tell them about the 'Bodily Integrity Act' and encourage them to find out more about this insidious agenda. Click here to read about the "Bodily Integrity Act". To find contact numbers and email addresses for Australian representatives, visit http://www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com/action and get on their backs. We the people will not be chipped!
Google's Android has overtaken Apple's iOS in the global smartphone operating system market, the Financial Times reported Friday.
According to market researcher Gartner, Android's market share climbed to 17.2 percent in the second quarter to rank third after Nokia's Symbian (41.2 percent) and Research In Motion's BlackBerry (18.2 percent).
iOS, used in the iPhone and other Apple mobile devices, slipped to fourth place with 14.2 percent.
Android is especially popular in the U.S. where it has also pushed aside Nokia and RIM to dominate the market, the business daily reported.
Nanotech tea bag creates safe drinking water instantly, for less than a penny
A new "tea bag" uses nano-fibers to suck contaminants and bacteria out of water, providing a desperately-needed, cheap solution for the billions of people without clean drinking water.
Researchers at South Africa's Stellenbosch University made the device from the same material used for the bags of the country's popular rooibos tea. Inside the sachets are two tiny destroyers of all things unsafe: ultra-thin nanoscale fibers, which filter harmful contaminants, and bacteria-killing grains of carbon.
A PRIVACY group has filed a lawsuit to stop controversial airport body scanning following claims tens of thousands of images have been stored or recorded.
The move by the US’s Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) comes amid revelations that some police agencies are storing the images.
The full-body scanners, which are planned to be rolled out around the nation’s airports next year, allow screeners to detect non-metallic devices, objects and weapons concealed on a person's body.
It also reveals body outlines, organs and genitals.
New Zealand And Australia Begin Fingerprint Immigration Checks
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has begun fingerprint checks with Australia as part of a biometric programme to strengthen border security and prevent identity fraud.
The programme will expand to include checks with the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States under the umbrella of the Five Country Conference (FCC), which has developed a system for securely - and with substantial privacy safeguards - matching fingerprint biometrics of persons of interest. Fingerprints of FCC citizens will not be shared.
Operators targeting Texas, Utah for contactless payment trials
AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) reportedly will begin trialing their proposed contactless payment system in mid-2011, launching tests in markets including Austin, Texas, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. Citing sources speaking anonymously due to confidentiality agreements, Bloomberg adds the m-payment solution--codenamed Mercury--may also target Atlanta during its initial consumer trial phase.
The registration number plate of your car will soon have RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, which will make it easier for the RTO and traffic police to get details about you and your car even from 300 ft away.
Transport ministerRadhakrishna Vikhe-Patil told TOI that tenders are being floated to procure the technology for embedding chips on number plates across Mumbai. The micro-chip will store data of the car owner, including registration details, chassis number and RTO details. It can be scanned using chip-readers from a distance of upto 300 ft.
New research from Barclays and Barclaycard shows that Britons are fed up with waiting in line, with two-fifths of customers refusing to queue for longer than two minutes and two-thirds regularly abandoning purchases.
According to the poll of 2,000 shoppers, 51% of customers refuse to even enter a store if there’s a long line.
To combat this issue,12% of retailers, including supermarket chain Co-operative, have begun to deploy contactless payment systems, which reduce transaction times by over a third, according to Barclays.
Brian Cunnington, head of debit cards for UK Retail Banking at Barclays, says, “The research shows that, particularly for small ticket items, consumers are no longer prepared to wait in line. They know they can go to another shop and purchase what they need more quickly. That is why many of our customers are starting to use contactless payment for goods under £15. It vastly speeds up purchases, while removing the need to fumble for the right amount of cash.”
The study also shows that the lower the value of the item, the more likely a shopper is to abandon a purchase if the queue is too long. The number of people willing to wait no more than a minute triples for lesser amounts, while the number willing to wait around 10 minutes falls dramatically for lower value purchases, according to Barclays.
Retailers currently offering contactless payment from Barclays include Co-operative supermarket, Little Chef, EAT., Subway and Pret a Manger
Visa, Akbank to deliver contactless m-payment to Turkey
Visa is teaming with Turkey’s Akbank and vendor DeviceFidelity to launch a new microSD-based contactless mobile payment system.
Akbank customers will be able to insert DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD into their handsets’ memory card slots, turning them into contactless payments devices that can be used with Visa payWave terminals.
The project will initially involve Blackberry handsets, but will expand over time to include an array of devices from manufacturers including HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia and Motorola, according to Visa.
Mary Carol Harris, head of Visa Europe’s mobile division, comments, “One of the key challenges to the success of mobile payments is the supply and availability of NFC handsets. Until a majority of mobile handsets offered in the market are supplied with integrated NFC, Visa is proactively working with innovators like DeviceFidelity and pioneers such as Akbank to harness the potential of new technologies.”
Meanwhile, Visa’s main rival MasterCard is working on a similar project with another Turkish bank, Garanti, and vendor Gemalto to deliver contactless payment to customers via NFC-enabled SIM cards
PerSay, a developer of voice-based identification authentication solutions, has announced the availability of new functionality available for use on Apple devices, such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The new technology, called VocalPassword, is designed to replace virtual keyboard use for filling in user names and passwords with voice-based authentication of the user.
VocalPassword is available for integration into any application offered on the Apple devices wherein any sort of personal authentication is required.
PerSay sees the technology being used in enterprise and personal applications like mobile banking, social network, payment services and membership-based clubs where login would be simplified, but security is not lost
I keep my eye on Patently Apple for a glimpse at the future of Apple products. They serve a niche in our community, and I applaud them for that. Today, they made note a patent that Apple has purchased from three engineers from Oregon. From the description on PA, this patent covers a certain aspect of using sensors in flat panel displays. I am not a biometric or patent expert, so I would suggest that you take a look at the description yourself if you’d like the technical details. As for the patent itself, you can take a look at the image below.
I am less interested in the technical aspect than I am the possibility of this technology. Anything that could lead to better security with less hassle is something I feel we should get behind. Even if this is just a precursor to a biometric scanner on Apple products in the future, this is something we should stop, and take note of right now. What do you think? Do you think biometric scanning has a future with Apple products? Sound off in the comment section of this post to have your voice heard.
SMARTRAC announced that production and shipment of its high security e-Passport inlays at its facility in Chanhassen, Minn. has surpassed the milestone of 1 million units in a single month.
In December 2009, production of RFID components from SMARTRAC’s Minnesota facility reached 500,000 inlays in one single month for the first time. Since then, the company has continuously expanded production capacity and workforce at the local subsidiary
Apple hires NFC expert as mobile commerce product manager
Benjamin Vigier has been involved in the development of near field communication technology since 2004 and most recently was product manager for mobile wallet, payment and NFC at mobile payments specialists mFoundry.
EDGING CLOSER TO NFC? Apple's new product manager for mobile commerce has worked with NFC since 2004 Apple has hired an expert in near field communication technology as its new product manager for mobile commerce.
NSA's Perfect Citizen monitoring program isn't perfect -- it's what is politically possible
The NSA's Perfect Citizen program reminds me of several huge chunks of wood that used to be suspended 30 feet above my street by heavy cables strung between utility poles. When I moved in, I needed a lot of extra phone lines, and it seemed like it was taking forever to get the new service to go live. When I finally asked an installer why, he pointed to the chunks of wood.
Autonomous Vehicle Begins Drive From Italy To China
It's been nearly five years since the famous DARPA "Grand Challenge" showed off some successful autonomous vehicles traveling 132 miles without a driver (this was a year after a similar attempt ended with no vehicles making it). The DARPA Urban Challenge followed, and not surprisingly, there's still plenty of research going on in the space. Slashdot points us to the news that two autonomous vehicles are now attempting to drive from Italy to China over the course of the next three months.
Danger Room What's Next in National Security Previous post Next post Build Us a Better Ray Gun, Pentagon Pleads
The Department of Defense continues its quest for the ultimate (or at least a working) ray gun, asking small businesses last week to submit ideas for lasers that sense, communicate, illuminate targets and shoot missiles out of the air.
Microsoft Cries Foul Over Google Tie-up With Yahoo Japan
Yahoo Japan's decision to replace Microsoft with Google as its main search partner has been met with protest from Microsoft, which called the deal "anticompetitive."
European police will be able to demand Britons are put under surveillance and gain access to their DNA after the UK opted in to controversial plans to strengthen co-operation.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the European Investigation Order (EIO) will "allow us to fight crime and deliver justice more effectively".
European police will be able to demand Britons are put under surveillance and gain access to their DNA after the UK opted in to controversial plans to strengthen co-operation.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the European Investigation Order (EIO) will "allow us to fight crime and deliver justice more effectively".
Avatars can portray a very lifelike and accurate depiction of a person's true personality, within the virtual world, according to a new study.
Dr. H. Onur Bodur of Concordia University and a former graduate student, Jean-Francois Belisle used the sophisticated avatar-based community Second Life as their model for the study, which has its own economy and facilitates real-money transactions.
Climate Weapons: More Than Just a Conspiracy Theory?
This story by Andrey Areshev, political scientist, PhD (History), Strateic Culture Foundation expert, was published in International Affairs magazine.
The abnormally hot weather in the central regions of Russia has already caused serious economic damage. It has destroyed crops on roughly 20% of the country's agricultural land lots, the result being that the food prices are clearly set to climb next fall. On top of that, fires are raging over peat lands around Moscow. These days, the majority of forecasts concerning the climate are alarming: droughts, hurricanes, and floods are going to be increasingly frequent and severe. Director of the climate and energy program of the Wildlife Fund A. Kokorin says that the current trend is not a random phenomenon and should not be expected to subside1.
New Planets Discovered by NASA; 100 Planets Similar to Earth
Just outside of our solar system, NASA has discovered more than 100 new Earth-like planets, sparkling new hopes for those interested in extraterrestrial life.
The agency said that its Kepler spacecraft has gathered six weeks of data on more than 156,000 stars in search for signs of planets orbiting them.
Oregon State University researchers have revealed a nanotech coating which they claim boost the efficiency of microbial fuel cells by 20 times, taking the technology one step closer to commercialisation.
Next-gen robotic surgeons could eliminate need for doctors in simple surgeries
Researchers have demonstrated that a robot guided by 3-D ultrasound and artificial intelligence can locate lesions in simulated breast and prostate tissue and take biopsies without human assistance. A team of bioengineers at Duke University, North Carolina, 'souped up' an existing robot arm with a purpose-built ultrasound system which acts as the robot's 'eyes' by collecting data from its scan and locating its target. An artificial intelligence program processes the real-time 3D information from the ultrasound and gives the robot specific commands to perform using a mechanical 'hand' that can manipulate the same biopsy plunger device used by doctors.
A group of five artificially intelligent, Australian robots are gearing up to compete against military technology from Turkey, Japan and the U.S. in November.
Ever visited retail sites which seem to be able to recommend items that are amazingly true to your likes and preferences?
Shopping at sites like Amazon.com used to creep me out when the data analysis and business intelligence tools they have churning in the backend would quite accurately predict other products I might like based on my browsing and buying history.
Senators grill Google, Facebook, Apple over privacy policies
In a sign of Congress' seriousness in passing legislation to shield consumers' personal Web browsing history and other online information from misuse, members of a key Senate committee on Tuesday questioned representatives of Google, Facebook and Apple about recent high-profile privacy lapses and expressed alarm about the state of privacy protections on the Web.
MYSORE: Be it the attendance, marks or fee details, address or appointment letters. Soon, everything will be a click away for students and staff of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI), courtesy the launch of the College Resource Management (CRM) system.
Poland's cooperative BPS bank says it's the first in Europe to install a biometric ATM -- allowing customers to withdraw cash simply with the touch of a fingertip.
The digit-scanning ATM, introduced in the Polish capital of Warsaw, runs on the latest in "finger vein" technology -- an authentication system developed by Japanese tech giant Hitachi.
In a recent webinar hosted by transportation and defense industry consultant firm IHS Jane, experts weighed in on biometric usage specific to border control applications, what can be expected as a next step and what it means for travelers, according to a Transitional article.
I'd heard of stories selectively leaked to the media. But I never thought I'd be gifted with one.
There are roughly thirty thousand biometric passports in India today. The President, the Prime Minister, the Congress chief and senior diplomats are all proud owners. You'll get one too - if you're applying for a new passport. Or if your dad is renewing his old one.
More than 1 million Bulgarians have already received their new biometric data passports.
“Siemens AG”, which is one of Europe's largest engineering conglomerate, has taken up the task to help the Bulgarian police issue 7 800 documents per day.
Missing biometrics create unique problems for UID project
The logo of Aadhaar, the government’s unique identification project headed by technocrat Nandan Nilekani, shows a part of a thumb impression — a sharp, curving pattern found on the edge of the index finger. In the complex task of uniquely identifying 1.14-billion people that populate this country, the unique patterns on the fingers are Nilekani’s biggest allies.
Suspected Afghan army trainer opens fire on fellow instructors
KABUL -- A suspected Afghan army trainer on a shooting range in northern Afghanistan opened fire on his fellow instructors Tuesday, killing two American civilian trainers and one other Afghan soldier before being killed himself, NATO officials said.
Guardian Verification System Installed In City School For Safety Of Students
LUCKNOW: No ma'am, please put your thumb on the scanner, if you want to take your ward with you. This verification is a must here, says the guard. No sooner than the woman puts her thumb on the scanner, the picture of the student and the woman come on the computer screen. Verification done, the guard allows the woman to take her ward.
Biometrics Innovation Prepares GE Healthcare ePrescribing Customers for Emerging Legislation
Marking another significant milestone for GE Healthcare's information technology business, the Ohio Pharmacy Board has approved the company's advanced ePrescribing solution for use by the state's physicians. Ohio is the only state today requiring two-factor authentication.
Biometric-based identification for foreign workers may be introduced
The Indian government is poised to introduce biometric-based identification of foreign nationals seeking employment visas, following the practice in the US and the UK.
This is part of the overhaul of the regulatory structure governing foreign workers that the government has initiated over the last few months.
With people carrying more sensitive information on their smartphones than ever, a new method to secure that data that can't be lost is needed.
As smartphones gain more compute power, they are being used for a lot more than making phone calls. With companies like Salesforce coming out with mobile phone apps, that means the phone is increasingly being used for business. And we all know how easy it is to lose a telephone. So what happens then? Enterprise Mobile Today reports that a company called BIO-Key has a solution: biometrics for your smartphone. You can lose your phone but not your finger, hopefully.
As many as 100 of the 252 constiutent colleges of the state's nine universities would soon have biometric system to register the attendance of the teaching and non-teaching staff.
This constitutes part of the drive to provide a tangibly improved infrastructural support to colleges to lure students to higher education, since the state has been witnessing flight of students to other states.
Ten years ago, the e-passport was a concept circulating among forward thinking individuals and small groups of associated industry, government and non-government agencies. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and the subsequent transit attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, the e-passport idea rapidly transformed into a foundation for global security. Today, e-passports have not only become mainstream but have also created a multi-billion dollar industry poised to fundamentally change the global travel and border control infrastructure.
Rand: DNA not viable as access control biometric Read more: Rand: DNA not viable as access control biometric
DNA is not viable as an identity verification biometric, says a June research paper from Rand Corp.
Even as the Defense Department must keep track of a large and ever-growing number of people, writes Rand's Douglas Shontz, DNA presents too many legal and technical issues for use as an access control identifier.
Finger-based biometric identification solutions provider BIO-key International Inc. reveals a mobile biometric identification and authentication platform. The platform provides enterprises with the ability to capture and transmit fingerprint biometric data to a secure server for identity and authentication of smart phone, laptop, tablet and desktop users.
iPhone Banking App Puts Your Account Information at Risk
A Citigroup spokeswoman says that its mobile banking app for the iPhone puts customers' account information at risk.
The iPhone gets yet another black eye. This time, though, it's from Citigroup. The lender said its Citi Mobile app for Apple's iPhone inadvertently saved personal account information in a hidden file on users' phones - drawing new concerns over the security of mobile banking applications.
Arlington-based Stanley Inc., which is being acquired by Canadian information technology contractor CGI Group Inc. for $903 million, has won two separate biometrics contracts from the U.S. Army worth as much as $7.9 million.
The jobs will support the Army Intelligence Center Language Technology Office at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
IBM's predictive crime software is not Minority Report
IBM has told TechEye that its analytical software, which helps police forces pin-point crime, is completely different to the Minority Report film, despite every single technology correspondent keen to make that comparison.
IBM Smartphones to Assess CO2 Data from Solar Powered Unmanned Vehicle
The Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory popularly known as VisLab has arranged for an expedition known as VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) to cover a distance of 13,000 km from Parma Italy to Shanghai in China utilizing solar energy powered unmanned vehicles to demonstrate the benefit of using green transport.
IBM Probes Show EU Will Continue ‘Tough Stance’ on Technology
The European Union’s probes into International Business Machines Corp. show that Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia may continue his predecessor’s penchant for going after technology companies.
A string of investigations under former EU antitrust commissioner Neelie Kroes resulted in 1.68 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in fines against Microsoft Corp. and a record 1.06 billion euro-penalty against Intel Corp. Almunia is likely to maintain an aggressive approach, lawyers said.
PositiveID Corporation (NASDAQ:PSID) Starts To Gain Fast
Yesterday, PositiveID Corporation (NASDAQ:PSID, PSID message board) started its way up. Just for a day, the stock gained 11.48% on its price to image128.pngreach $1.02 per share. Along with the price move, PSID traded at the unusually heavy volume of over 511 shares traded.
Theft of underwear and jeans must be a pretty big issue for Walmart stores considering that the company wants to track each garment using RFID tags. All that stands in this plan’s way is some itsy-bitsy privacy concerns.
QANTAS has signalled it will tighten its excess baggage policy as it introduces futuristic new domestic check-in facilities.
The new facilities are designed to slash the time spent in airport queues.
The airline is also preparing to offer upper-tier frequent flyers a unique personal electronic bag tag that can automatically store details of up to four flights and will replace the traditional paper bar code.
Verayo Unveils New Unclonable RFID Chip Enhancing Its Portfolio of Low-Cost Anti-Counterfeiting and Authentication Solutions
Verayo, a security and authentication solutions provider, today launched a new RFID IC – the Vera M1HW. The new chip complies with ISO/IEC 14443-A standard and uses Verayo’s patented Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) technology to enable tag-reader mutual authentication. It also features 512 bits of read-write memory for applications to store, add or edit user data.
Radio-frequency I.D. (RFID) tags are a convenient way to track items and cut costs for companies. But this technology is increasingly being used to track other things, like security badges — or even people — giving it the potential to cause a horrific erosion of privacy. Tracking people with smart tags, their shopping preferences, their activities, and their personal belongings sounds like something from a sci-fi thriller. But If you got your panties in a twist over Walmart's decision to track your undies via RFID smart tags, then you'll be doublely concerned at how close we are to cradle-to-grave surveillance.
How frightened should you be of Wal-Mart’s upcoming use of RFID?
Wal-Mart, the biggest retail store in the U.S., has announced plans to attach RFID tags to certain articles of clothing, including jeans, underpants, and socks. Just the word alone—RFID—should set off your Spider Sense, but should you actually be afraid of shopping there from now on? I mean, there’s any number of things to be upset at Wal-Mart about, so where does the use of RFID fit in that anger matrix?
PositiveID Is Back with Breath Glucose Check Device
The handheld device "utilizes a single-use capsule containing a proprietary reagent that triggers a chemical reaction that can be immediately measured and correlated to blood glucose levels. The company believes this device could eliminate a patient's need to prick his or her finger multiple times per day in order to get a blood sugar reading," a release stated.
As smart meters become more common in U.S. homes, they are triggering complaints that they're causing an increase -- not a decrease -- in utility bills.
President Obama has touted the benefits of smart meters, which can alert consumers to the costliest hours of the day for energy use and can help utilities automate meter reading and quickly identify power outages. Vice President Biden has estimated that 40 million homes could have them by 2015 up from about 8 million now.
University project to improve AI in computer games
Playing computer games could become a lot more realistic following a major research project being carried out at the University of Essex.
The researchers aim to make the computer-controlled non-player characters (NPCs) in computer games more ‘intelligent’ so they behave more like humans.
Professor Simon Lucas, who is leading the project through Essex University’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, said: "This research will lead to a more robust type of intelligent behaviour.
advertisement
"For players of video games it has the potential to give NPCs the 'wow factor' as they behave in more human-like and realistic ways, taking the player by surprise with their intelligence and empathy.”
The joint research project between Essex, Imperial College and Bradford universities is focusing on making artificial intelligence smarter, easier to use and more adaptable for games programmers.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is putting £1m towards the funding of the three-year project.
Professor Lucas said there “are significant challenges to overcome” but that the potential for video games is huge.
School bus implements smart cards for student safety, Dubai
A Dubai school bus operator is planning the installation of a smart card system to improve the safety of some 40,000 students traveling to and from school every day.
Approximately 800 of School Transport Services’ buses will be equipped with smart card readers, accompanied by GPS tracking software, to enable students to log on and log off the buses each day.
Officials say the system will alert the proper personnel in the event of a child not logging off the bus, and will also provide schools with information in case of traffic delays or accidents.
ML Augustine, managing director of STS told the paper, “We will immediately know if a child has not got out of the bus, maybe because he fell asleep. We can also monitor speed and harsh braking.”
In a recent webinar hosted by transportation and defense industry consultant firm IHS Jane, experts weighed in on biometric usage specific to border control applications, what can be expected as a next step and what it means for travelers, according to a Transitional article.
Among the most prevalent expectations is the convergence of biometric data found on passports and other travel documents with airline passenger data so that government agencies overseeing safety in airports are able to do their own risk assessments.
Such a program would enable the agencies to provide automated border control within their airports. However, the same experts are seeing the interest in automating areas of the airports resulting in a trend of finding more areas that biometrics can be applied such as programs for frequent flyers benefits such as lounge access, bag drop off and when boarding a plane.
A survey from Sita points to 20% of the 129 airlines surveyed investing in biometric.
China: On-the-spot phone payments making cards obsolete
The market in China for mobile contactless payments is expected to grow dramatically within the next two years. Li Jianlin from the Global Times reports that mobile subscribers in China are using their NFC enabled mobile devices to swipe and pay for purchases at merchants with contactless readers installed. By 2011, the number of mobile contactless payment subscribers is expected to exceed 100 million in China.
Beijing computer programmer Zhang Yu has a new novelty toshow off for his friends.
Instead of pulling a credit card out of his wallet andswiping it for fries and burgers at McDonald's, Zhang, 27, holds his cell phonein front of an electronic reader installed at the cashier's counter for half asecond, and, with a crisp "beep," his order is billed.
By using his phone at similar devices at Starbucks, gasstations, supermarkets, buses and subway stations, Zhang can also pay for hiscoffee, gas up his car, shop and take mass transit.
He said the mobile phone payment method has definitely madehis wallet thinner, by replacing all his old plastic cards for banks, gasstations, so-called VIP clubs and the daily commute.
Contactless payment technology continues to develop; it is a hot topic of discussion as Barclaycard rolls out an update to its TV advert demonstrating the ease of contactless technology – but will its implementation become a rollercoaster ride for retailers and will hard currency become harder to find in the future?
Cash will always be necessary; it is something that we all carry in our pockets for quick and easy small-scale purchases and a whole industry exists purely to handle and transport it. Indeed, many supermarkets and retail chains offer their customers the opportunity to get ‘cash back’ as they buy produce via a debit or credit card. Consumers view it as a convenience yet the reality is that it saves the retailer a considerable amount of ‘cash’ in money management fees.
Day 2 Afternoon Liveblogging H+ Summit: Ray Kurzweil
First, Alex Lightman introduces Kurzweil and lists several of his many honors and accomplishments.
Kurzweil say he’s frustrated he couldn’t be there for more of the conference, and that he wants to get through his presentation quickly so there’ll be time for questions.
He recently gave a talk for SETI. If you take the standard SETI assumption that are hundreds or thousands of civilizations advanced enough to have things like radio assumption, that would mean there would also be many civilizations doing galaxy wide engineering.
A Chip Off the Old Block: Update on Implanted Microchips
Eight years ago, when Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach introduced a microchip that could be implanted in humans, company executives thought they had a product that would create the ultimate portable medical record. The rice grain-sized VeriChip could save lives by providing access to vital health information in emergency situations when the patient couldn’t speak. One potential use: Keeping track of Alzheimer’s patients who are prone to wandering off but are often unable to communicate effectively because of their illness. The technology was even familiar — almost identical to the chip that millions of Americans have implanted in their pets for identification purposes. Like the pet chip, the VeriChip consists of a glass encapsulated radio frequency identification tag that’s injected under the skin. When exposed to a scanner at close range, it transmits a 16-digit identification number that can be linked to a secure patient database with information on everything from the patient’s drug allergies to pre-existing medical conditions.
The Jacobs became the first VeriChip-implanted family in 2002 - Derek died at the age of 18 due to an accident
New Delhi: India will soon see a uniform electronic toll collection system on its national highways, increasing the revenue, curbing leakages and ensuring smooth travel across the country.
The system, which will use passive RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, is likely to be in place by May 2012.
'Passive RFID will ensure that a person can travel from Kashmir to Kanyakumari without stopping anywhere. The revenue leakages at present is at least 15 percent of the toll collection, which comes to about Rs.300 crore,' said Road and Transport Minister Kamal Nath.
FaceTime Enables Secure Web 2.0 and Facebook Usage at Schur
Schur is one of the oldest family-owned packaging organizations in the world having an employee strength of more than 1,500 people spread all over Europe and the United States of America. More than 50 percent of Schur's employees use computers for carrying out their jobs. Email is primarily used as the main communication tool, but in recent time's real-time communication applications like instant messaging and Web 2.0 applications like Facebook (News - Alert) and LinkedIn have taken over.
In a release, Tom Nielsen the IT-Technical Manager of Schur said, "There is a much wider range of communication tools available over the internet today than even just a short while ago. We wanted to be certain that users were adhering to our IT policies, but at the same time didn't want to curtail activity that is actually of benefit to the company. We were aware that users were using Windows Live and Skype as part of their everyday communication, but we wanted to ensure that other, less welcome, applications such as BitTorrent (News - Alert) weren't being used."
German Government to deploy SCM smart cards in nationwide campaign
As a result of the new electronic identification program rolled out by Germany, SCM Microsystems has announced that more than 700,000 of its contactless smart card readers will be released for use in the country. The provider of secure access solutions and business unit of Identitive Group Inc. are providing free IT Security Kits to promote security amongst German citizens.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior has chosen the deployment of the new e-ID cards to protect online identities, handle government transactions at both the local and federal level, and access a range of consumer-oriented applications, one being ePayments.
SCM’s smart card-based products and solutions are utilized in security and identification applications, transaction systems, eHealth- and eGovernment programs and physical access systems around the world. The German government will provide this security Kit free of charge to its citizens to provide that same added security measure.
Recession: hindering or helping contactless payment in the UK?
Analysis from Datamonitor shows sluggish adoption of contactless payment in the UK due to recession, while Barclaycard is arguing the opposite, according to internetretailing.net.
Bling Nation now offering mobile payment through PayPal
Mobile payment start-up Bling Nation has landed a big deal with PayPal, enabling Bling Nation’s customers to make contactless mobile purchases using their PayPal account, according to techcrunch.com.
Bling Nation offers customers contactless stickers that can be attached to any handset to make debit-style mobile purchases. The more purchases a user makes, the more coupons, rewards points, or discounts he or she racks up, determined by the retailer.
Bling Nation originally targeted its solution to hyperlocal banks in small communities, but now with PayPal on board, they could see their mobile payment system rolled out in a big way nationwide.
The PayPal integration is being tested in Palo Alto, Calif., with “limited” enrollment. Customers interested in the service can register at participating merchants and, eventually, via the Web.
Report: e-visa, e-passport issuing to take off in 2014
According to industry research on e-passport and e-visa from Acuity Market Intelligence, the Top 10 e-passport nations will issue 77 million documents and the Top 10 e-visa nations 56 million documents annually by 2014.
Acuity’s report predicts that the Top 10 issuing countries–India, U.S., China, Brazil, UK, Philippines, Japan, France, Canada and Indonesia–will constitute a 59% market share of global e-passport issuing volume, accounting for $2.7 billion in revenue in 2014.
The e-visa market share represented by the Top 10 issuing countries–China, Australia, U.S., UK, Canada, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, and Finland–will be even greater, the report predicts, with 56 million documents representing a startling 93% of the total volume and $2.6 billion in revenue in 2014.
The 274 page, data-driven report aggregates previously unavailable global, regional, and national data on the projected volumes and revenues for epassport and e-visa programs and associated technologies, including biometrics, smart chips, and e-passport document readers.
The report also includes market analysis and revenue forecasts from 2009 through 2014, with 120 pages of individual country profiles, and more than 190 tables and charts providing detailed forecasts on document and revenue volumes, and revenue by technology (biometrics, e-passport document readers, and secure credentials and smart chipsets) and solution components (enrollment, data management, credentialing, verification, and integration).
Mifare4Mobile Group to develop next generation NFC transport ticketing services
NXP has joined forces with Ericsson, Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Venyon and Vivotech to form an industry group that aims to develop a new generation of NFC-based transport ticketing services.
NEW GROUP: Members will steer Mifare's move to mobile phones NXP, Ericsson, Gemalto, Oberthur Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Venyon and Vivotech have joined forces to form the Mifare4Mobile Industry Group, with the aim of enabling members to work together to standardise and advance the management of Mifare applications on NFC-enabled devices.
Geneticists are planning to study the genes of Ozzy Osbourne to see if they can discover the secret to his ability to live through decades of drug abuse.
Despite the lives of many of Osbourne’s peers being taken by drug abuse, Osbourne is still going strong and his genes could hold the clue.
Cofactor Genomics in St. Louis is going to map the genes of the 61 year old singer in collaboration with Knome and Applied Biosystem. It is expected to take around three months to complete.
Very few people have had their genes analyzed, although one of the most ambitious projects in biological science’s history was the Human Genome Project, which mapped the entire DNA that makes up all humans in 2003.
Infineon, IBM partner to produce secure smart card chips
Infineon Technologies AG announced that IBM will manufacture Infineon-designed integrated circuits (ICs) used for secure identification applications, including electronic passports compliant with international travel regulations and the U.S. Personal Identity Verification cards. The planned production at IBM’s chip fabrication plant in Burlington, Vt. provides U.S. manufactured components for suppliers to U.S. government electronic identification programs.
Infineon and IBM began a collaboration in 2007 that included licensing of the embedded Flash technology used to produce secure ICs. This technology base will be used to manufacture security microcontrollers based on the Infineon SLE 78 architecture, which features ‘Integrity Guard’ hardware security technology.
Infineon developed the SLE 78 family and ‘Integrity Guard’ security technology for use in chip-based high-end security identification and payment areas with its need for security as well as products with contactless performance. The SLE 78 products received the Common Criteria EAL5+ security certification for use in electronic ID documents and chip card applications by German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
Both the IBM Trusted Foundry and Infineon’s Dresden plant are security certified according to “Common Criteria,” an international standard designation for the integrity of manufacturing and the supply chain from producer to end-customer. This provides Infineon customers with two fully-qualified sources for advanced security chip technology
Rumor: Google to Challenge Facebook with "Google Me"
Is Google prepping to launch some kind of Facebook-killing service? That's the rumor of the day, spawned by a brief Twitter update by Digg founder Kevin Rose. According to Rose, the new service is going to be called "Google Me," and it will—in some way—offer up a social profiling functionality that could rival Facebook's. If true, it wouldn't be the first time that Google's launched a new high-profile service to compete with an equally high-profile Web 2.0 entity. Remember Google Buzz?
Ingenico, Bank Asya to pilot contactless terminals in Turkish taxis
Ingenico and Bank Asya are partnering to deploy contactless payment terminals in taxi cabs at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.
For the upcoming pilot, Bank Aysa will supply 114 taxi cabs with Ingenico’s EFT930 GPRS Mobile Terminals, allowing customers to pay for fares with contactless credit or debit cards, as well as traditional mag stripe cards.
Mustafa Ölmez, Payment Systems manager of Bank Asya, commented: “[Contactless payment] solutions for public transportation, bridge and highway tolls have been extremely well received. We now aim to ease the lives of the cab passengers and drivers by deploying this offer for the taxis.”
Ingenico and Bank Asya expect to expand the project to more taxis, pending favorable results from the pilot
Charleston completes SmartCard parking meter upgrades, does giveaway
After kicking off conversion of the city's coin-fed parking meters to ones equipped with SmartCard readers, as of this month the City of Charleston has converted all 1,840 of its meters. To mark the occasion the city will be giving away 100 of the cards.
Read more stories on this subject in our SmartCard topic page.See the cards work like little debit cards allowing you to insert them into parking meters and pay for only how long you need to park (up to the maximum meter time, naturally) but it usually costs $5 to purchase the card.
Well the city is going to give away one free to the first 100 people who visit the Charleston Visitor Center Gift Shop at 375 Meeting Street and agree to load at least $5 on the card -- the city will then toss on another $3 in credit.
The spot will start selling them on Wednesday, June 23, at 1 p.m.
Oh and the visitor center will now be the second spot to buy and recharge your card, in addition to the existing spot at the Department of Traffic and Transportation, 180 Lockwood Boulevard.
I've had one of the cards for a few weeks now and they're very much worth it if you ever find yourself using meters in town -- just max out the meters time and get a refund for what you don't use, and no more stressing about coming back 5 minutes too late. And that's without getting into the nastiness of digging under my car's floor matts.
Most cell phones today contain a SIM card, which can be swapped with the ones developed by SKT to read the radio waves emitted by the tags attached to medical supplies, whiskey and other products to ensure its authenticity.
SK Telecom recently announced the development of a universal subscriber identity module, or USIM, embedded with a 900 megahertz RFID reader.
The RFID reader connects through a 3G or Wi-Fi network and provides information such as the product’s place of origin, delivery destination, and expiration date and also whether the product is genuine.
The technology will be tested by Incheon International Airport’s Air Logistics Management Service starting in August.
The new USIM cards are expected to cost roughly $25 - $35, and is expected to be available to the public in 2011.
All new Nokia smartphones to come with NFC from 2011
The announcement was made by a top Nokia executive at the Mobey Forum's 10th anniversary meeting in Helsinki this morning.
Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president for markets, has announced that all new smartphones introduced by the company from 2011 will come with NFC. Vanjoki, who is responsible for consumer insights, sales, marketing, manufacturing and logistics across all Nokia products and services, made the announcement during a keynote presentation at the Mobey Forum's 10th anniversary workshop in Helsinki this morning.
Vanjoki wasn't able to give specific details about the new smartphone models, Liisa Kanniainen, executive director of the Mobey Forum, has told NFC World. But delegates were informed that more information will be made available "in due course".
Vanjoki was also asked whether the new smartphones would support the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), says Kanniainen. In reply, he explained that the phones would support all open business models, suggesting that they will include support for both SWP and other secure element formats such as MicroSD cards and, perhaps, an embedded secure element too. A set of tools is also to be made available to third party application developers.
The announcement follows concerns in the NFC market that Nokia was pulling back from its long-term support for near field communication technology, following the news earlier this year that Nokia had cancelled plans to put its long-awaited 6216 Classic NFC phone into production.
RNCOS has released a report predicting the Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) standard will lead to “robust growth” in the smart card market.
The report, titled “Smart Card Market Forecast to 2012,” also predicts a surge in the telecom and financial/retail/loyalty sectors, with unit shipments of applications growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of approximately 13% and 17% respectively during 2010-2012.
The report is divided into analysis by technology, applications, and country, including US, Canada, Korea, Japan, China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, UK, Germany, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and South Africa.
Also included is an overview of emerging market trends and their impact on the global market and prospective customer base, as well as an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of industry’s main players.
In what amounted to one of the most chaotic days ever experienced in Canberra yesterday, Federal Parliament still found time to approve the passage of legislation to create a national electronic health record scheme.
In what amounted to one of the most chaotic days ever experienced in Canberra yesterday, Federal Parliament still found time to approve the passage of legislation to create a national electronic health record scheme.
The legislation will facilitate the creation of electronic health identifiers that will allow Australians to create personally controlled e-health records. The project was funded to the tune of $466.7 million in this year’s Federal budget and will be administered by Medicare.
In what amounted to one of the most chaotic days ever experienced in Canberra yesterday, Federal Parliament still found time to approve the passage of legislation to create a national electronic health record scheme.
In what amounted to one of the most chaotic days ever experienced in Canberra yesterday, Federal Parliament still found time to approve the passage of legislation to create a national electronic health record scheme.
The legislation will facilitate the creation of electronic health identifiers that will allow Australians to create personally controlled e-health records. The project was funded to the tune of $466.7 million in this year’s Federal budget and will be administered by Medicare.
‘Censorship-Resistant,’ Thinking Internet in Works by Defense Department
In light of cyber defense and the new “Government 2.0” movement, the Department of Defense (DoD) has several new Web technologies under development. Below are some of the cyber projects included in the fiscal year 2011 DoD budget. Among them are projects to create “censorship-resistant” networks, biological-inspired and self-healing systems, and computer systems which can adapt and cooperate.
The projects come amidst growing cyber attacks against federal networks, and rising concerns in cybersecurity and internet freedom. Cybersecurity “incidents” increased by 400 percent from 2006 to 2009, and “Pervasive and sustained cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of the federal government,” according to a recent report by the United States Government Accountability Office.
